1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a mobile having a front case and a rear case where the front case includes a main body and cover on the main body, which were formed by co-injection molding.
2. Description of Related Art
Mobile terminals are portable devices that users with various services such as a voice calling service, a video calling service, an information input/output service, and a data storage service. Mobile terminals may have a first body including a display module such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a second body having a user input unit such as a keypad. The first body and the second body may be electrically and physically connected by being hinged by a hinge device or may be electrically and physically connected so as to be slidingly movable. Each of the first and second bodies may include a pair of cases: a front case on which a display module such as an LCD or a user input unit such as a keypad is disposed; and a rear case on which the display module or the user input unit is not disposed.
For example, a related art mobile terminal may include a front case on which a keypad for generating key input data for controlling the operation of the typical mobile terminal is disposed, and a cover which is coupled to the exterior of the front case and can thus protect the front case. FIG. 7 illustrates an exploded perspective view of a case of such a related art mobile terminal. Referring to FIG. 7, the case includes a first front case 10A-1 and a cover 10A-3 coupled to the first front case 10A-1 so as to protect the first front case 10A-1. The first front case 10A-1 includes a user input unit 13, including a keypad 13-1 for generating key input data in order to control the operation of a mobile terminal. In general, the first front case 10A-1 and the cover 10A-3 are formed separately through independent injection molding processes and are then assembled by being coupled or bonded to each other.
The user input unit 13 may include a cutout 13-2 for defining the keypad 13-1. A pair of grooves 13-4 for improving the coupling between the first front case 10A-1 and the cover 103A is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the first front case 10A-1. A plurality of exposure holes 13-3 is formed through the cover 10A-3 so that the keypad 13-1 of the user input unit 13 can be exposed through the exposure holes 13-3. A pair of protrusions 13-5 may be formed on the inner circumferential surface of the cover 10A-3. The protrusions 13-5 may be inserted into the grooves 13-4 when the exterior case 10A-3 and the first front case 10A-1 are coupled.
Because the front case and the cover are generally formed through separate injection molding processes, an additional operation for assembling the front case and the cover is required, and thus, the number of parts in the related art mobile terminal and the number of processes for fabricating the related art mobile terminal is increased. In addition, the water resistance of the related art mobile terminal may deteriorate due to a high possibility of a water leak through the parting line between the front case and the exterior case. Moreover, assembly errors are highly likely to occur between the front case and the cover.